DC Lite #78

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1. S&P US Manufacturing PMI. "The overall rate of growth was the fastest since July 2022, with the upturn supported by a renewed increase in production and a quicker rise in new orders."

2. ISM Manufacturing PMI. ISM indices, on the other hand, disappointed with drops in new orders, employment, and production leading the headline index down from 49.1 to 47.8 (vs. 49.5 est).

3. Cyclicals vs. Defensives vs. Tech. "The divergence between flows into cyclicals and defensives versus technology equity funds has grown recently."

4. US vs. the rest. "Over the last 16 years, US stocks have gained 427% vs. 85% for International stocks and 36% for Emerging Markets. This is the longest cycle of US outperformance that we’ve ever seen."

Q1 bottom-up EPS (I). Analysts lowered Q1 estimates during the first 2 months of the quarter by just 2.2%. That is less than the 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year averages.